Collagen Levels in Tendon of Wounded and Unwounded Animals

Abstract

IT was reported by Peacock¹ that the skin of rats bearing a 6 cm skin incision shows a small increase of collagen soluble in salt at sites distant from the lesion. Houck et al.² found, apparently in contrast, that skin distant from an area of necrosis mediated by croton oil lost salt-soluble collagen. Nevertheless, here the fall in dermal collagen was accompanied by a loss of collagen from the lesion itself, while in the former experiment both wound and distal skin collagen increased during the period of observation. Smith and Wogensen³ could find no significant decrease of total collagen in the skin of rats distant from a croton oil injury. Adamsons et al.⁴ found a sustained rise in skin collagen in rats distant from a large paramedian incision. Recently, Houck⁵ has postulated that a previously observed rise in acid-soluble collagen in skin distant to a croton oil injury results from labilization of insoluble collagen by a collagenase, which itself shows a fall in concentration⁶.